U.S. Secretary of Eduaction- Arne Duncan

On January 12, 2010 U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan addressed the NCAA. His main point was that all students are students before they are athletes. HIs interview comes from the NCAA's website, the article is titled "Secretary of Education- Duncan Urges Student-Athlete Balance". I though this would be a good starting point for me to present my views on the research I have done on the history of Rule 48.

Obviously Rule 48 was instated in 1986 and times have changed. In the beginning of my blog I presented the old NCAA academic requirements and then the new ones. Obviously if the NCAA is continuing to push for high academic standards than all the issues of the past are still relavent. Many student athletes are only recognized for their talent. Their talent over shadows everything about them and therefore they are sometimes exploited. Due to the money that student athletes bring into the school this is also an issue of concern. Some people believe that the authority within the university and colleges don't care as much about the student athletes marks because they are more concerned with how much money they are creating in revenue for the institution.

Although it is true that these student athletes are not compensated for their work and that coaches are making millions of dollars of of their success, it is important to realizes that student athletes gain an incredible experience for playing in the NCAA. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan played basketball for Harvard, and recalls how much being on a college team changed his life and how much he grew from it. Arne Duncan also graduated with flying colors from Harvard and went onto a very successful career. For most students who dream of being in NCAA most say their main focus is going pro. Only about 1 out of every 12,000 students makes it pro and therefore this is why it is extremely important to stress the challenges student athletes are facing with academics. It is crucial to graduate with a degree nowadays in order to go somewhere in life. Student athletes can sometimes get lost in the many practices they have to attend, away games, travelling, and then on top of that trying to balance homework, exams and papers. According to Arne Duncan, in 2010 "student athletes were performing better academically than non-student athletes." So does this have anything to do with the implementation of proposals such as 48 and 16? I think it does. WIthout the NCAA taking steps to better education students would not have been pushed to give it their very best. The NCAA has been criticized for not focusing on the right things. For example some say they should be focusing on high school teaching and making sure that getting rid of "mediocrity" starts there instead of at the university level.

For the student athlete, graduation should be the most important thing on their minds. Without completion of graduation life can get tough, so staying on task is crucial. Making sure that you have the support you need to keep up with work and letting people know when you ned help is important. I think Duncan puts it pretty perfectly, " The goal should be to go to college, to figure out what you love, study that and graduate. Whatever happens after that athletically will just be icing on the cake."